A November Afternoon
by Enhas
Summary: Fry never expected that everything could change.. beginning with the sound of a doorbell.


Author's Note: I don't own Futurama or anything to do with it, and this is strictly a non-profit only thing.

This is the fifth Futurama story I've written, with no relation to any of the others. This idea came to me out of nowhere, and I hope it turned out to be alright to anybody reading this. It's another somewhat serious story from me, so leave now if you don't like them.

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For some, life can never change outside of extraordinary circumstances such as winning the lottery or landing a lucrative business deal. Others are content and thankful for what they have, and sudden surprises can threaten to change all that they know about the world around them.

Philip J. Fry would be classified as part of the latter group. Married to the cyclops woman of his dreams and soon expecting a child, he could not be happier with how he had been dealt a winning hand in his life for once. While waiting for Leela to return home that late November afternoon of 3006, Fry never expected that everything could change.. beginning with the sound of a doorbell.

Before opening the door, Fry heard a light cough on the other side before it turned into a deathly-sounding hack. As he pushed the button to raise the door, a slim figure appeared before him.. clutching her chest in pain and breathing heavily. Fry was stunned for a moment before he fully realized just who stood before him.

"Morgan?"

The bureaucrat known as Morgan Proctor did not look much like Fry remembered, not only because she was dressed in casual wear and wore her hair loose.. but also the ghostly-white paleness of her skin and the fact she leaned on a cane in her right hand.

"Fry.. can I please come in?"

Not knowing what to say, Fry nodded and watched as Morgan slowly stepped inside while relying on her cane to keep her from falling over like a wooden doll. He didn't particularly care for the woman, but Fry couldn't help to have felt pity for her.. and if Morgan had come to visit him after over five years, it had to be something important. She made her way to a nearby chair and almost collapsed in a heap, before closing her eyes for a moment and sighing deeply.

"Morgan, what are you doing here?" Fry asked. "Leela's gonna be back really soon and I don't want you to be here!"

Morgan began sobbing with tears that ran down both sides of her face. "I.. I came to see you, Fry.."

"Don't you know that I'm married now, Morgan? Besides, I don't want to be with you again! Leela is my true love, and I'm not gonna let you ruin it.. you never really loved me, anyway!"

"No, Fry.. I don't love you. And do I really look like I'm in the mood for _that_? Look at me, damn it!" yelled Morgan, barely through a mess of tears. She stopped for a moment to cough before she continued on. "I've come here.. come to see you for another reason, and you're probably not going to like it."

_She really doesn't look too good.. _Fry thought. _I've never seen her like this before, but why did she come to see me? When a woman comes out of nowhere to see you, it usually means she has some terrible and dark secret or something.. I hope I'm wrong. I usually am about a lot of stuff though, so whatever it is can't be that bad! Like the time I thought I was a robot but I wasn't.._

"I know you're married now, and I'd never break you and the cyclops up for a quick fling. If you haven't guessed by now with that simple mind of yours, Fry.. I'm dying, and I don't have much time left. You're right, I don't want to be here for long so I'll get right to the matter.. do you remember the nights we shared together at Planet Express?" Morgan said, with a slight smirk.

"Yeah, I can't really forget it.." Fry said, a bit nervously. "I'm sorry about you being really sick.. I mean, I don't really like you much but I never wanted you to die or anything."

Morgan replied with a quick thank you before losing herself in her thoughts for a few moments. _I shouldn't have kept this from him for all of these years, but I have no choice now. He was just too immature at the time, but what I did was still wrong.. well, here I go. Now or never._

"Fry, I'm sorry.. I should have told you this much sooner but.. on one of those nights I neglected to use my birth control." Morgan said, and Fry's mouth immediately gaped open. She knew that Fry most likely knew what she was going to say next. "I didn't know until a few weeks after I was suspended from my job with the bureaucracy, with no thanks to you.. but yes, I was pregnant and absolutely terrified. However, I did keep the baby and on January 18, 3002.. Curtis Proctor was born. I have a holograph of him that I would like to show you."

Reaching into a pocket, Morgan pulled out a pen-like device and pressed a button to activate a hologram in the air. A small boy who appeared to be the splitting image of a young Philip J. Fry materialized, the only difference being he had inherited his mother's brown color of hair and eyes.

"I didn't know it at the time, but you gave me the greatest gift that anyone ever could. I love my little boy, Fry.. more than anything else in this world!"

Meanwhile, Fry's face could have been described as a mixture between shock and rage. "Why didn't you tell me this, Morgan? I have a son that I haven't known about for nearly five years.. and what is Leela gonna think when she finds out? We're going to have a kid of our own really soon, and this could ruin everything!"

"You couldn't have taken care of a child at the time, Fry.. but you've changed, and really cleaned up too. Yes, I probably should have told you.. but now I don't have any choice. The reason I came to see you today is about custody of our son."

"You mean, child support? Oh man, I hope it's not.."

"No, be serious.. I make more in a week than you do in a month. No, Fry.. I want you to take care of Curtis after I'm gone. It's either that or the orphanarium, and I'm not sending him to one of those horrible flea-infested places!" Morgan said. "Soon, I will be cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found for my disease, but I know as well as you do that the chances are slim that I will ever see my son again. Please, Fry.."

"I don't know what to say.. I can't make a big decision like this right now, and by myself!" Fry said. "I'll have to talk to Leela first, and if she doesn't kill me or gouge my eyes out then come by again tomorrow so we can all talk."

"Alright, but I hate that I have to leave my son.. he has given me more joy in the nearly five years since he was born than I've had in my entire life. I am doing all of this for him.. I can't deprive Curtis of his father any longer, and I am freezing myself for the slight chance that the cure might be found soon and I can get back to him even if he would end up being an old man." Morgan said, raising herself to her feet with her cane to head for the door.

"There was a guy who had boneitis who was frozen in the 1980's but it took over a thousand years before the cure was found. What are you going to do if you end up waking up in the year 4000 or something?" Fry said.

"I don't know, Fry.. but all I have now is hope. Hope that I'll be cured in time, and if not.. I know that you and Leela will take good care of our son. I will see you again tomorrow, and bring by the appropriate documents to be signed." Morgan replied, and exited Fry's home into a waiting taxi while coughing nearly the entire way.

A huge wrench had been thrown into Fry's life and his perfect plans for the future. He didn't know what to do, or how Leela would react.. Fry was in great fear for all that he had, that he could lose it all. He stepped into the living room and slouched down on the sofa, burying his head in his hands. _What am I gonna tell Leela? Our first baby was supposed to be ours and not someone else's! What if she decides to leave me?_

_She won't leave you, it's not like you knew you had a son with another woman!_ another part of Fry's mind said. _Leela will probably be mad, but she'll understand if you just tell her without lying or trying to smooth it out.. just be honest. Besides, it can't be worse than the fact that your own father was your son! And Leela always tells you of the bad times she had in the orphanarium.. do you really want to do that to your own kid?_

_I hope you're right.._ Fry thought, and was soon snapped out of his thoughts by hearing his wife enter through the front door. "Fry, I'm home! I bought the cutest little baby booties too.."

What should have been a normal, average November afternoon turned out to be something completely different and unexpected. And for Philip J. Fry, the only thing on his mind at the moment was how he was going to tell Leela that there may soon be another addition to their family.

* * *

And that's all. I don't know if I'll ever be able to write any chaptered stories, one-shots seem to be the best for me since my attention span and patience for writing isn't the greatest. According to the Futurama Timeline, April 9th 3001 was the day that Cubert was removed from his tank.. and since _How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back_ takes place right after it I figure it might have been around that time as well. You actually have to think when making up dates of birth!

Oh, and I chose the name "Curtis" because that's supposed to be what Fry's first name was supposed to be.. but he was renamed in memory of Phil Hartman. Hope you enjoyed this one.


End file.
